新西兰式的奢侈游

The four accountants who’d come down from Nelson by helicopter to have fish and chips on the quay¹ had flown back home. The Australian-Chinese family next door had finished cooking the fish they’d caught in the bay and the guys in the public campsite at the end of the cove² had run out of beer and finally fallen silent. I stood on the balcony of my cabin at the Bay of Many Coves³. The only sound was the Sound — the waters of Queen Charlotte Sound, lapping against the pontoon, which, with its white uprights and the white yacht moored⁴ nearby, seemed to float in space against the flat, black bay.

从纳尔逊(Nelson)坐直升机远道来码头享用鱼与薯片的4位会计师已打道回府。隔壁的澳籍华裔一家人也已把从海湾捕获的鱼鲜煮好，住在峡湾尽头公共宿营地的一伙人喝光啤酒后也已消停。我站在千洞湾度假村(Bay of Many Coves)的木屋阳台上，耳畔听到的唯一声响就是夏洛特女王峡湾(Queen Charlotte Sound)海浪拍打浮码头发出的声响。浮码头的一排排白色立竿与就近停靠的白色游艇，在风平浪静的漆黑海湾中，犹如飘浮于浩瀚太空的孤舟。

So ended a blissful day in New Zealand and a rather remarkable⁵ journey. In a week I had crossed between North and South Islands visiting some of the 31 properties that make up the Luxury Lodges⁷ of New Zealand. This is a loose association of places, owned by a variety of owners from Wall Street billionaires to third-generation families of rural landowners — and they are booming.

这是我在新西兰度过的一天快乐旅程，也宣告了整个非凡旅程尘埃落定。整整一周时间，我穿梭于南岛与北岛(North and South Islands)，入住新西兰Luxury Lodges旗下多处酒店。这是个松散的酒店协会，所有者形形色色，从华尔街的亿万富豪到第三代当地土著人家庭——他们的生意越来越红火。

Once seen by many as a destination for backpackers to hike, bike and bungee jump, New Zealand’s profile is changing. In 2014 the national tourist board developed a “premium⁸ sector⁹ strategy” that would appeal to the world’s wealthiest 40-60 year olds. It hoped to capitalise on a perceived rejection¹¹ of ostentatious luxury in favour of privacy, authenticity¹² and natural environments.

新西兰曾被很多人视为是驴友徒步旅行、骑自行车以及蹦极跳的天堂，如今它的形象早已今非昔比。2014年，新西兰国家旅游局推出了高端旅游战略(premium sector strategy)，旨在吸引全球40-60岁之间的超级富豪，这群人希望真正抛弃浮华的奢侈，追求私密、原汁原味以及自然风貌。

Already it has paid dividends¹³: the members of Luxury Lodges of New Zealand saw revenues rise 22 per cent for the six months to September 2015 compared to the previous year. And rather than simply visiting one upmarket lodge⁶, they are increasingly indulging in what is — genuinely — becoming known as “lodge-hopping”. You can hop¹⁰, as I did, on internal flights and into rental¹⁴ cars. You can hop on ferries. Or — if you’re really not scrimping — you can hop from lodge to lodge on a helicopter; they all have helipads.

功夫不负有心人：截止2015年9月的半年时间里，Luxury Lodges旗下酒店的收入同比增长了22%。游客不再仅局限于游玩某一处高端度假点，而是越来越沉醉于所谓的跳点式旅游(lodge-hopping)。游客与我一样，可选择乘坐国内航班或是渡船以及租车进行跳点式旅游。或者如果诸位在乎费用的话，可选择乘坐直升机在酒店间跳点旅游，各个度假地都建有直升机停机坪。

Rates include breakfast, early evening drinks and dinner, and range from NZ$805 (￡360) for a room at Hapuku Lodge to NZ$12,075 for the owner’s cottage at Matakauri Lodge near Queenstown, where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge stayed in 2014.

旅游费用中含早餐、傍晚茶饮以及晚餐，每位游客从Hapuku Lodge豪华树屋酒店的每个房间805新西兰元（约360英镑）到Matakauri Lodge精品酒店每套单栋别墅的12075新西兰元。Matakauri Lodge位于皇后镇(Queenstown)附近，当今英国剑桥公爵夫妇(Duke and Duchess of Cambridge)2014年曾下榻于此。

I started in the North Island, flying from Auckland to Napier, the east-coast town that was devastated¹⁵ by a huge earthquake in 1931. It was rebuilt entirely¹⁶ in the Art Deco style and, Miami Beach aside, there’s no finer concentration of that vernacular¹⁷. Some 20 minutes out of town, the US billionaire and hedge fund pioneer Julian Robertson acquired 6,000 acres of farmland and forest gazing over Hawke’s Bay in 1995 (for what he has described as “the cost of a modest New York apartment”). In 2007 he opened an isolated¹⁸ lodge there called The Farm at Cape¹⁹ Kidnappers²⁰, run by his son Jay.

我从北岛(North Island)启程，从奥克兰乘坐飞机抵达东海岸城市纳皮尔(Napier)。该城曾毁于1931年的大地震，之后完全按照阿泰科建筑风格(Art Deco)重建，全世界除了迈阿密海滩(Miami Beach)外，就数这儿汇集的阿泰科风格建筑布局最为合理。出城大约20分钟，就是美国亿万富豪与对冲基金先驱朱利安•罗伯逊(Julian Robertson)1995年购买的、面向霍克斯湾(Hawke’s Bay)的6000英亩农田与森林（拿他自己的话说，花了相当于“纽约一幢现代公寓房的钱”）。2007年，他在此开建了一处远离尘世的度假地——拐子角农场酒店(The Farmat Cape Kidnappers)，酒店由他儿子杰伊(Jay)负责打理。

There are walking trails along barren clifftops and through wild meadows with the promise of spotting kiwis and tuis (the former hard; the latter easy). There’s also what Golf Digest says is the best course in New Zealand. The rooms are what you’d expect a billionaire with taste and a care for heritage to make of a 19th-century sheepshearer’s farmhouse²¹.

行走在蜿蜒小径，穿行于荒芜的悬崖顶及野草地，幸运的话，可以看到几维鸟与蜜雀（前者概率小，后者则容易得多）。此处还有《高尔夫文摘》(Golf Digest)评出的新西兰最佳高尔夫球场。拐子角农场酒店房间参照19世纪剪羊毛工人住所打造，是对文化遗产兼具品位与爱心的亿万富豪的呕心沥血之作。

From there I flew to Queenstown, the more or less undisputed global capital of adventure and adrenalin. On the outskirts²² overlooking Lake Wakatipu is Azur Lodge, nine cabins (or villas²³, as they prefer to be known) sprinkled down a steep slope. Inside: the trappings of a contemporary chic²⁴ hotel — white sofas, fireplaces, throws, rugs and sculptures. Azur is not part of the lodges association for the simple reason that it doesn’t serve dinner, but instead staff will order food in from one of the many international restaurants nearby. I was as happy here with my fishburger from Fergbaker and Amisfield Sauvignon Blanc as with any meal on the trip.

从拐子角农场酒店，我坐飞机抵达皇后镇(Queenstown)，这儿基本上是全球毫无争议的冒险游圣地。Azur Lodge酒店位于小镇边缘地带，俯瞰瓦卡蒂普湖(Lake Wakatipu)，它的九幢木屋（抑或说是别墅，它们更倾向于如此称谓）散布于峭坡之上。酒店内则完全是现代时尚酒店的配置——白沙发、壁炉、床罩、地毯以及座座雕塑。Azur Lodge酒店并非Luxury Lodges协会成员，原因很简单：它不提供晚餐，但员工可从附近多家国际餐厅订餐。Fergbaker与Amisfield Sauvignon Blanc餐馆的鱼肉馅饼，与旅程中享用的所有膳食一样，都让自己念念不忘。

After venturing further afield in Otago, including Arrowtown, a village so sweet, tree-lined and clapboarded it’s crying out to be the setting of a horror movie, I took the Milford Sound road south past the Remarkables ski fields, through the paddocks and trout²⁵ streams to Te Anau and Fiordland Lodge. I hesitate to say Fiordland is the humblest of the lodges, although it is the cheapest and most traditional of those I saw — albeit²⁶ housed in a fine contemporary timber building with an asymmetrical²⁷ pitched roof set against a backdrop of distant snowcapped peaks. It wasn’t the best room but it was my favourite cooking of the trip. The classic, unfussy dishes such as grilled²⁸ salmon²⁹ and risotto don’t sound exciting, but they’re just what guests — whether the helicoptering classes or not — want on a rural New Zealand adventure.

深入奥塔哥省(Otago)腹地后（其中就包括了景色迷人、绿树成荫的Arrowtown村，它用隔板围挡，因为急需充当某恐怖影片的外景拍摄地），我选择Milford Sound这条路，向南经过Remarkables滑雪场，再穿过马场、涉过鲑鱼生活的溪流最后抵达Te Anau的Fiordland Lodge酒店。我不愿说Fiordland是最为简陋的酒店，尽管它价格最便宜，也是本人整个旅程中见过的最传统酒店——它开在做工精致、非对称斜屋顶的现代木屋房里，远处白雪皑皑的群峰尽入眼帘。房间并不算最高档，但我品尝到了整个旅程中的最好美食。烤大马哈鱼与意式调味饭等传统简单菜肴听起来一般，但它们正是深入新西兰乡村历险的游客们（不管是否搭乘直升机）的最爱。

The lodges are not just about fine food, soft mattresses³⁰ and great views but about the range of activities and experiences offered. In the morning, a helicopter landed on Fiordland’s front lawn and whisked us over the lake and up the mountain to the Luxmore Hut, a mountain refuge 1,085m above sea level and one of the stopovers on the celebrated³¹ Kepler Track walking route.

Fiordland Lodge酒店出名的不仅仅是美食、柔软的床垫以及绝世美景，而是提供的众多活动与体验项目。每天早晨，直升机就降落在Fiordland酒店前的草地上，载着我们飞速掠过湖泊、越过高山，前往海拔1085米的高山Luxmore Hut棚屋，这儿是著名的凯普勒徒步道(Kepler Track)的中途歇脚点。

I was guided by Steve Norris, who runs local tour operator Trips and Tramps, and is also an unpaid³² checker of stoat traps. Many of New Zealand’s native creatures have struggled against predators³³ who arrived with human visitors — dogs, cats, rats, rabbits, stoats and their like — and the traps are an attempt to control their numbers. We descended³⁴ through blustery rain and buffeting³⁵ winds into sparkling sunny lakeland, checking the traps as we went. We found one dead stoat and two decomposing³⁶ rats in the traps. This is a hopeful sign for the kiwis and even rarer tahakes, their eggs and their chicks — when they first laid the traps, the haul would have been five or six times that. “Unless,” as one laconic³⁷ American tramper we met on the trail put it, “the stoats have gotten smarter.”

我的向导是斯蒂夫•诺里斯(Steve Norris)，他是当地旅行社Trips and Tramps的负责人，又是不拿报酬的白鼬陷阱查验员。新西兰很多土生土长的动物在外来游客带来的天敌（如狗、猫、野兔、白鼬等）的夹击下生存艰难。这些陷阱就是试图控制天敌数量的举措。我们顶着狂风暴雨从山顶下到阳光明媚、波光鳞鳞的湖区，一路上不断检查所设陷阱，我们看到了一只死去的白鼬以及两只腐烂的老鼠。这对于几维鸟以及更为稀少的tahake（它们的蛋与雏鸟）是个福音——最初设置陷阱时，捕获的“天敌”数量是现在的5、6倍之多。“正如途中遇见的一位美国驴友言简意赅地说道：‘除非白鼬变得更灵性。’”

From Queenstown, a flight took me to poor, battered³⁸ and broken Christchurch. Before the 2011 earthquake this was known as the most genteelly English of New Zealand cities. Now, with its cranes, wasteland parking lots and hoardings it has the air of an English town that’s still recovering from the Luftwaffe. But the insurance money is beginning to flow at last. It will recover; look at Napier.

我们从皇后镇坐直升机抵达满目疮痍的基督城(Christchurch)。2011年大地震前，它是新西兰最具英国风情的温文尔雅的城市。起重机、荒地停车场以及临时搭建的围墙如今随处可见，更像是遭受德国空军轰炸后百废待兴的英国城市。但是，保险赔偿金最终开始发放，基督城将会东山再起，纳皮尔就是明证。

An hour’s drive to the south is Annandale, a coastal³⁹ farm that is home to some of the association’s most dramatic accommodation⁴⁰. Four separate, private, houses are scattered⁴¹ across a 4,000 acre farm, each offering a distinct architectural style and what the owners call “gumboot luxury”. They range from the five-bedroom Homestead, a handsome colonial-style farmhouse built in the 1880s to Seascape, a dramatic glass-walled retreat just for two. Surrounded by hills and facing the sea, Scrubby Bay is a relaxed and secluded⁴² beach house, ideal for gatherings⁴³ of up to 14, complete with swimming pool and outdoor hot tub. Annandale’s marketing⁴⁴ slogan is as simple as it is compelling: “Stay where the world can’t find you”.

从基督城向南驱车1小时就抵达了Annandale，在所有Luxury Lodges酒店中，这座海滨农场酒店的膳宿给人留下的印象最为深刻。四幢独立的私人居所散落在面积4000英亩的大农场，每一座都有着与众不同的建筑风格，提供其主人所谓的“橡胶靴似的奢华”（gumboot luxury，即中用不中看）。它们从五卧的Homestead到漂亮玻璃墙装饰的Seascape，前者是建于19世纪80年代殖民时期建筑风格的漂亮农舍，后者则是仅满足两人宾客入住的度假场所。配有游泳池与室外热水浴池的海滨别墅Scrubby Bay三面环山、一面朝海，是远离尘嚣的休闲之地，最适合多达14人的团队在此聚会。Annandale的营销口号既言简意赅又过目不忘：“请君入住桃花源”。

Head north from Christchurch and three hours on the road brings you to Kaikoura, a small town on a bay, whose cold, rich waters support sperm⁴⁵ whales, seals, occasional orcas, dolphins, albatrosses; and hence shoals of tourists.

从基督城驱车北行三个小时，就来到了海滨小镇凯库拉(Kaikoura)，此处富含营养质的寒冷海水吸引着抹香鲸、逆戟鲸、海豚以及信天翁前来觅食，游客因此纷至沓来。

Just up the coast, the tree houses of Hapuku Lodge appeared between the mountains and sea. I wish I had the space to tell the story of the Wilson family, five generations of architects who made their way in San Francisco and came back to create this delightful⁴⁶ place. It’s also one of those New Zealand environments that throws the unwary European: your eyes settle on a pattern of tussocky fields and hills, so familiar to travellers in Scotland or North Wales: and then — what? — totara trees, wheki-ponga tree ferns, pohutukawa flowers.

Hapuku Lodge酒店的三幢树屋就位于海岸边，散布于高山与大海之间。我真希望有机会能好好介绍一下酒店所有者威尔逊家族(Wilson)的历史：这个五代建筑设计师的家族在美国旧金山发迹后，返回凯库拉打造了这片人间仙境。这儿也是新西兰诸多让欧洲粗心游客恍惚的地方：来自苏格兰或北威尔士的游客看到杂草丛生的田地与山峰布局，感觉再熟悉不过了。而后呢？却是压根不熟悉的罗汉松、wheki-ponga树蕨以及波胡图卡瓦圣诞树花(pohutukawa flowers)。

For all the epic⁴⁷ Middle Earth wonders of the mountainous west, the drive along the coast road to Blenheim and the far north of the South Island is the most magical: the turquoise⁴⁸ and aquamarine expanse of the Pacific to your right, the golden hills of the wine lands rippling⁴⁹ in the wind and sun ahead.

尽管西部山区有《指环王》中土世界(Middle Earth)的瑰丽风景，但沿着朝向布莱尼姆(Blenheim)以及南岛更北端地区的沿海公路一路疾驰，沿途有着最为壮美的风景：右侧是碧绿浩瀚的太平洋，山坡上葡萄园里成熟的累累硕果在风与阳光下婆娑摇曳。

At Picton you leave your car and take a boat through Queen Charlotte Sound to the Bay of Many Coves, where this story began and ends. The lodge has been transformed by Murray McCaw, chair of Luxury Lodges of New Zealand, and his wife Elaine. After a career in the motor industry, IT and doing corporate⁵⁰ turnrounds, Murray has settled for a life where he can indulge his passion for photographing birds, wine tasting, playing Scottish folk songs, organising opera festivals and chatting to people like me about what this particular aspect of New Zealand tourism has to offer.

抵达皮克顿(Picton)后，我们下车乘船穿过夏洛特女王峡湾前往千洞湾度假村，这儿既是旅程的起点又是终点。度假村由新西兰Luxury Lodges酒店协会主席穆雷•麦考(Murray McCaw)及其妻子伊莱恩(Elaine)重新翻建。穆雷曾从业于汽车业、IT业以及帮助其它公司扭亏，最后他选择了自己心仪的生活——纵情于飞鸟照片拍摄、美酒品鉴、苏格兰民间音乐弹奏、歌剧节组织以及与我这样的人畅谈新西兰原生态旅游业的服务内容。

Over dinner and an increasingly voluble debate about wine matching we wrestled⁵¹ with a phrase coined by my tour operator to sell the lodges: “luxury with a conscience”. To me it sounded like “puritanical⁵² decadence⁵³” or “responsible hedonism”, and on my trip I sensed some awkwardness around it. Luxury, the word and the idea, doesn’t thrive well in these far southern islands.

晚餐期间，我们为葡萄酒如何搭配争得不亦乐乎；我们争着解读斯蒂夫•诺里斯为推销千洞湾度假村而想出的词：“luxury with a conscience”（用心打造奢华）。我觉得这颇似“清教徒似的颓废”抑或说是“负责任的享乐主义”，整个旅程中，我感觉到有些别扭。奢侈品，无论是措辞还是内涵，在偏远的新西兰各个岛上的发展都不尽如人意。

True, there are Pradas and Louis Vuitton on Auckland’s Queen Street, but even their most loyal customers from Hong Kong and Beijing aren’t here for the shopping. They’re here to eat abalone, see kids graduate, eye up a waterside apartment, try some wines and fill their bodies with clean air and water.

没错，在奥克兰的皇后街(Queen Street)也有普拉达(Pradas)与路易维登(Louis Vuitton)的门店，但即便它们的最忠实客户（来自香港与北京）也并非来此购物。他们来新西兰是享用鲍鱼、看望在此上学的孩子、查看海景公寓、品鉴美酒以及尽情享受清洁的空气与饮用水。

Within the lodges’ association there’s a select group of “super lodges” (of which Cape Kidnappers is one), with more privacy, a bigger room, more daring architecture and higher thread count on your sheets. But I’d still recommend trying the full range; and don’t forget the real luxuries the lodges offer — the tramps, the wildlife, the heartbreaking views — are open to everyone.

在整个酒店协会内，有几家精选出来的极品（拐子角农场酒店无疑是其中之一），它们具有更好的隐秘性、更宽敞的房间、更为大胆的建筑风格以及布料更优质的床单。但本人仍建议大家整个体验一番，并铭记每家酒店的真正奢侈享受——徒步旅行、观赏野生动物以及欣赏荡气回肠的美景——对每个游客都开放。

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Mark Jones was a guest of New Zealand In Depth, which offers a 10-night tour staying at five of the association’s properties, from ￡4,120 per person, including half-board basis, a round of golf at Cape Kidnappers, a scenic⁵⁴ helicopter flight, car hire, domestic flights and transfers. The writer flew from Hong Kong to Auckland on Cathay Pacific

马克•琼斯是新西兰深度游旅行社(New Zealand In Depth)的游客，旅行社提供游客在酒店协会旗下5家会员入住10晚的旅游套餐，每位游客最低费用为4120英镑，包括半膳宿、在扣子角农场酒店打一场高尔夫球、乘坐直升机欣赏美景、租车费、乘坐国内航班以及转机费。马克•琼斯从香港乘坐国泰航空公司(Cathay Pacific)的航班飞抵奥克兰。